


Ruffled Feathers

by anxious_alien



Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries & Related Fandoms, The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, Klaroline, pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 01:30:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17356418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anxious_alien/pseuds/anxious_alien
Summary: Klaroline one-shot. Caroline Forbes is a very busy woman. Klaus Mikaelson promised he would leave and never return. She does not have time for this.





	Ruffled Feathers

Caroline was so busy. She was always busy. She threw herself completely into every project and the party tomorrow was no exception. Everything needed to be perfect. No, those floral arrangements were all wrong. The streamers needed to be a lighter shade of pink. The playlist should be _this exact_ order.

Elena and Bonnie were no help. Elena had broken up with Damon out of nowhere and she had been acting so strange, and Bonnie was busy being a supernatural anchor to the other side…or something. So she’d been left with these…replacements as her helpers and they were dreadful. Sure, Elena and Bonnie didn’t care quite as much as Caroline did but they at least _listened to her._ Everyone knew she was always right. About everything. Becoming a vampire had only enhanced her obsession with perfection. Now she could spot flaws and tiny details from a mile away.

She paced back and forth with her clipboard, barking orders and sighing with disdain at her less-than-stellar set up crew. It was fine though. Between this and the coursework with college, it was a good distraction from all the other drama. Especially her breakup with Tyler.

“Well, this is quite the operation.” A familiar voice said behind her. She spun around. She was surprised and flustered to see the one and only Niklaus Mikaelson standing before her. He offered a smile.

She regained her composure, refusing let to him make her feel like a lovesick little girl. She refused to return said smile. “And what are you doing here, exactly? What happened to leaving and never coming back?”

Unperturbed, he chuckled, “Come on, love. You can’t honestly say you didn’t miss me a little bit.”

She did. Every single day. Sometimes she would stare at his name in her phone at night, and try to find the nerve to call. Or even text. Something. But she had already _admitted_ that they had a connection and right now…well, she couldn’t do more than that. She’d gone too far with Klaus already.

“I’m incredibly busy right now, Klaus. This formal isn’t going to plan itself, trust me. Can’t you find someone else to bother?”

“Oh, but that’s why I’m here! Someone needs to save these poor souls from your wrath.”

She snorted. “Oh really?”

“Naturally! I, the knight in shining armor, am willing to save these innocents from the great and powerful Caroline Forbes. A force to be reckoned with, sure, but I’m up to the challenge.” Caroline was fighting awfully hard to keep the smile off her face as if he went on, “So what’ll it be? Coffee? Maybe a couple of drinks? Or do you fancy another walk in the woods?”

She had to turn away from that mischievous look on his face before she lost her resolve completely.

“If I leave, this entire thing will fall apart.” She said, still facing away from him.

“Your dedication is admirable. I can’t wait to see what you do when you’re not wasting your time on…small town college events.”

She rolled her eyes. “I know it doesn’t matter to you, Mr. Thousand-Year-Old King-Of-Vampires or whatever, but it matters to me. This is what I’m good at. If you’ll excuse me, I will now be getting back to what I’m good at.”

She started to walk away and he reached out and grabbed her hand. “One drink. That’s all. You still have until tomorrow to get everything done. And I firmly believe it’s all a _lready_ done and you’re just trying to keep yourself distracted. Let me be a distraction.”

She wanted to say no. She wanted to confidently jerk her hand away and get back to the task at hand. But she made the fatal mistake of looking back at his face as he spoke, and her resolve began to crumple.

“One drink.”

Some time later, and several drinks later, they were still seated at the bar. What started as polite conversation to try and appease Klaus, turned into Caroline finding herself unable to just shut up. She couldn’t help lamenting to Klaus about all the crazy things that had happened.

“Sorry. I’m a mess.” She laughed, wiping a couple of tears away, “All this stuff lately almost makes me miss when our biggest problem was a family of super-old murderous vampires.”

Klaus raised an eyebrow in amusement and she realized what had just come out of her mouth.

“Oh, that was super rude.” She said, and giggled in spite of herself.

“Not entirely untrue.” He laughed. She couldn’t help giggling again, and decided she’d definitely had too much to drink. This would be a good time to call it a night, say her goodbyes and return to normal life.

She did not do that.

They kept talking late into the night, about more serious things. Her ambitions in life, her dreams, and the places she wanted to see. He asked the hard questions too. Like what would she do in a few years when people began to wonder why she didn’t seem to age? What would she do to start over time and time again?

She didn’t particularly _like_ these questions, but no one else ever brought it up. Like they were afraid they might accidentally break her if they questioned her.

Last call came, and she didn’t really want this night to end. It appeared Klaus felt much the same way.

“My hotel is actually right around the corner.” He mentioned.

“Oh, someone’s _confident._ ” She smirked. She would say no. She had to say no. She could not let herself fall victim to his allure yet again. She was done being tempted by darkness.

“Not at all, love. I’m only suggesting that your campus is quite a bit of a walk, and it’s late.” As if Caroline were going to forget her vampire speed and strength, “I was only offering a place for you to lay your head for the night.”

“Right.”

“Anything else you do is entirely up to you.” There was that devilish gleam in his eye again. She hated and obsessed over that gleam.

“I’ll walk you back to your hotel.” She said with a smile, “You have so many enemies, you know. You can never be too careful.”

“How gracious of you.” He grinned back. And they walked together to his hotel, and eventually ended up right outside his room. This was the moment she _needed_ to leave. Or really, she needed to leave about a dozen times before that, but this was _the_ moment.

“Well…I should…go.” She said awkwardly.

“As you wish. Thank you for a wonderful evening, Caroline Forbes.” He kissed her hand. She blushed, feeling butterflies yet again that evening. And then she started to walk away, and kept expecting him to stop her. Surely any moment, he would use his vampire speed to dash in front of her, block her path, and kiss her passionately. But he didn’t.

He steps slowed, until she came to a stop. She whirled around and placed a hand on her hip, weirdly annoyed with him now. “Okay, what the hell?” she asked.

He was still standing outside his hotel room, leaned casually against the wall like he was waiting for this. Oh, how she hated him sometimes.

“Whatever do you mean, my dear?” he asked innocently. In an instant, she was back in front of him, just inches away. She looked into his eyes, and let her gaze trail down to his lips. She’d fought valiantly against her desires, and it was infuriating that he was acting the perfect gentleman. He liked so much to ruffle those perfect feathers, and she’d grown to expect it. This act tonight was entirely unfair.

She captured his lips with hers, and he wasted no time pulling her close. A deep growl emitted from his throat as he pressed her against him, possessively. He’d clearly been holding back as much as she had up until that moment. Before she knew it, they had gone into the room and crashed on to the bed, suddenly desperate to be as close as they possibly could be. She didn’t know who’d started removing clothes first. That didn’t really matter. Maybe having her feathers ruffled was just exactly what she needed.

\--

Caroline Forbes woke the next morning in the hotel bed, alone. She looked around the room and realized there was no sign of Klaus anywhere. He’d packed up and left. She was a little bit glad for it, because she had no idea what she would have said to him anyway or how she could be expected to tear herself away and go back to normal life.

She found a note on the nightstand, addressed to her in that elegant handwriting she recognized straight away.

_Dearest Caroline,_

_Thank you again, for a lovely evening. You are a rarity. I’m afraid matters in New Orleans require my immediate attention, so I have to bid you farewell…for now._

_Let me know if you should decide to put your many talents to good use in New Orleans, with me. It would be an honor to rule my city with you at my side._

_Always,_

_Niklaus Mikaelson_

She tucked the letter away in her purse, and later she stashed it at the back of a drawer in her dresser, underneath a pile of clothes. She only pulled it back out and re-read it…oh, on an almost nightly basis.


End file.
